By Femi Bolaji, Jalingo

Former Minister of Defense, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (Rtd), has advised residents of Taraba State to embrace peaceful coexistence devoid of rancour for accelerated growth and development.

He noted that investors would only commit their resources in places where they are sure their assets are safe for business.

Speaking at the commissioning of an ultra-modern eye center named after his wife, Daisy Danjuma, in his hometown, Takum, the elder statesman also advocated attitudinal change among all inhabitants for peace to thrive.

He also encouraged the creation of ICT training hubs for the development of IT-compliant skills for the youths.

According to him, “Our state is very well endowed by nature with good arable lands, plenty of rainfall, and we have also discovered that in the same soil, we have plenty of minerals.

“We must bring peace to our state in order for people to invest in our land to provide jobs for our people.

“We must have peace in our land so that our young men and women will not be running to other places looking for jobs. They suffer hardships abroad.

“And there is nowhere in the world that a black man can have the quality of life you can get in this country if only we do the right things. First, we must ensure that there is peace.

“Secondly, we must train our people. And we can’t train people who don’t go to school. People will go to school only when there are teachers who are paid regularly.

“In these days of Information Technology and Computer, you must read and write in order to develop. We are behind, and if you look at the map, Taraba is in the middle of nowhere.”

He, however, lamented the deplorable state of road networks in contrast to what they were in the past.

He said, “I used to enjoy driving to Takum either from Lagos or Kaduna those days because we had good roads.

“Now we don’t have roads. We now have to come in jeeps and four-wheel drives.”

Gen. Danjuma (Rtd) further thanked the representative of the National Eye Health Program for their support to the TY Danjuma Foundation.

Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas, in his remarks, said patients in the hospital would only incur charges for consumables, while the TY Danjuma Foundation would cover the cost of services as a way of giving back to society.

He also appreciated the elder statesman for always giving back to the state.